Complaint Review: CitiMortgage

 I have been a customer of CitiMortgage for years. Our mortgage is not underwater, our home is not valued at less than what we owe.  My husband and I have excellent credit, our credit scores are 800 and 801 respectively and we have never missed a mortgage payment.

CitiMortgage purchased my mortgage from my original lender and in 2010 we refinanced with Citi.  That refinance was very professionally handled and went smoothly.  On Jan. 16, 2013 CitiMortgage overnighted us a letter inviting us to refinance again at 2.75% for 10 years.  A day or two later we called and spoke to Kelli Gossett, she was very helpful, professional and that same evening she sent us an email with a list of documentation she needed from us.  The usual stuff (pay stubs, banking info, homeowners insurance, etc). Shortly thereafter we received a packet of documents to sign and fax back.  During this time we also received an email from Russell Patterson, he was now our Mortgage Loan Coordinator, and he too had a list of items he needed with a due date of approximately 48 hours.  We signed the documents, gathered all the neccesary info. and I scanned and emailed PDFs to Russell a day before the deadline.

On Jan. 30 $360.00 was billed to our credit card and this fee was discussed with Kelli.

On Feb. 8 our house was appraised.  I am not in the banking industry but I was surprised that our home had to be appraised since it was done during the 2010 refi and the amount still owed on the mortgage was less than some cars go for these days.  On Feb.18 I was emailed a copy of the appraisal.

At the end of Feb/beginning of March Russell called to let us know that our loan was with the underwriters and he would call in 7 - 10 days with an update.

End of March I emailed and left voice mail messages for Russell - what's going on?

April 1 Russell emails stating he had been ill and that was the reason for no communication.  He also needed another pay stub from my husband dated after April 3, a private road maintenance agreement and we had to install a security gate at a side patio door.  The deadline for these items was April 4.

My husband has been at his place of employment for 15 years, they had originally requested 2 paystubs which they were given in January.  In addition, how was I going to get a paystub dated April 3 or later and get it in by April 4?!

Private road maintenance agreement - I didn't even know what that was.  We live along a public road with a driveway leading to our home.  Apparently Citi's info. showed that we shared a driveway.

As far as a secuity gate at the side door, we have lived in this house for 17 years and there's has never been a gate at this door.  The door is not used to enter or exit the home.  After a few emails and phone conversations with Russell it was determined that a safety gate would be sufficient to attach on the outside of the door.  The appraiser had to come to our home once again to take pictures of the gate.

April 12 the appraiser returns to our home to take pictures of the gate.

April 18 the appraiser calls me at home wanting to know if the gate is permanently attached to the door.  I told him it was.

April 22 - CitiMortgage requests yet another paystub from me. I have been at my place of employment for 20 years.  I sent that the same day.

May 6 - I send Russell an email inquiring about the status.  Now underwriting wants us to put cinder blocks, yes that's right cinder blocks, at this door to form steps.  The appraiser will then come back to the house and take pictures of the blocks.  The distance from the ground to the door is 14".  I would understand if it was on a second story.

I am ready to just forget the entire thing.  I could go out and get a car loan in an hour for the amount of money I am trying to refinance!!!!  I believe these are stalling tactics.  CitiMortgage already has our loan that we are paying on every month at a higher interest rate.

Oh I would be amiss if I didn't mention Daniel David.  At the end of every email is an automated message stating that at closing we will be asked to complete a survey (believe me I can't wait to fill that out!) but that if for any reason we fill we cannot give the highest marks to contact Daniel David at anytime.  I sent Mr. David an email on April 1 explaining my frustation, to date I have not had any response.

Do yourself a favor and run from this company.  I would borrow money from the mob before I attempted to use the service of CitiMortgage again.